Effect of interface incorporation of cadmium nanocrystallites on the photovoltaic performance of solar cells based on CdS/Si multi-interface nanoheterojunction

Abstract

A non-planar and multi-interface CdS/Si nanoheterojunction was prepared by growing CdS nanocrystallites (nc-CdS) onto silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) using a chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. Utilizing the surface reducibility of Si-NPA, small quantities of Cd nanocrystallites (nc-Cd) were incorporated naturally into the CdS–Si interface during the CBD process. Solar cells with a device construction of ITO/CdS/Si-NPA/Al were prepared based on CdS/Si-NPA and their photovoltaic performances, including open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, external quantum efficiency and energy conversion efficiency, were measured under simulated AM 1.5G illumination. Compared with CdS/Si-NPA cells without nc-Cd incorporation, an energy conversion efficiency promotion by two orders of magnitude was achieved, which was ascribed to the reduction of the series resistance resulted from the nc-Cd incorporation at the interface. Our results show that the incorporation of nc-Cd at CdS–Si interface might be an effective path for obtaining high-efficiency solar cells based on CdS/Si multi-interface nanoheterojunctions.